


Two Kinds Of Hope

by justyouraveragestoryteller



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Issues, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 20:57:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10839306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyouraveragestoryteller/pseuds/justyouraveragestoryteller
Summary: Klaus has to say goodbye to his daughter, and it might be for the last time.





	Two Kinds Of Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Hi loves,
> 
> This is a fic i've been thinking about for a while, and I figured I might as well post it. This could we developed into a multi-chapter work, but I'll have to see. Enjoy :)   
> \- J

Klaus is crying. Hayley doesn’t think she’s ever seen Klaus cry. Not in all the time she’s known him. Six months ago, when she was feistier and had the energy, perhaps there would’ve been room for teasing. If the tension wasn’t already built so high, she’s sure she could make some witty comment about the tears. In fact, she’s sure she could right now, if she tried hard enough.  
It would be hardly justified anyhow, seeing that she was crying too.  
It had been silent for so long. ‘I’m sorry.’ Was the only thing she could think of to say. She whispered it to the ground - it’s the only place she can look.  
His eyes are swollen and rimmed-red when she dares to turn her gaze up again.

“...You shouldn’t be.” 

And fuck, his voice is raw. It’s broken. It’s full of pain and regret and her stomach twists at just the sound of it. 

“Hayley.” 

He's waiting for her answer, but it wasn't even really a question. 

“Yes, I should be sorry.” She argues and gasps, choking on the words that are so painful to bring to the surface. “You can tell me no all you want, but I am. And maybe that’s selfish of me, but i’m sorry for bringing you into this mess. I should take part of the blame. It’s the right thing to do.” 

“Hayley-”

“No, Klaus, listen to me. I’m sorry that one night ruined everything for your family, and-” She lets out a spiteful laugh, struggling to find the right words. “I’m sorry…” She’s hyperventilating now. “My god, I mean, can you even imagine? What our life would be like if we had stayed sober? If that night hadn’t even happened?”

She regrets it as soon as she says it, and Klaus balls one hand into a first. He wants to say something. She knows him well enough to read the physical cues. She learned that on day one, but she can’t let him speak. Not yet. 

Hayley shakes her head, stomach filled with guilt as she thinks back to the bourbon-fueled evening. The product of that evening was somehow still asleep in her arms. Hope hadn’t woken since the fight at the apartment, and that was hours ago. She slept, completely unaware of her parents as they argued through their tears, standing in the middle of a field in the Louisiana bayou. 

Hayley prayed she wouldn’t wake as Klaus had to leave. The cries of the baby would just about destroy him as he ran for the car. He wouldn’t be able to look back. 

Did she want him to? 

A part of her subconscious is wide awake and on red alert, screaming at the girl to hightail it and run for her own car, drive until her tears slow and start a new life. Forgetting is easy. She’s good at that, forgetting. Disappearing. Transforming. She could be a new person in two weeks. It’s a talent that she’d developed over the years. 

“We were plenty sober, love.” His dark chuckle brings her back to earth. “And it was only a mistake at the time.” Klaus’s voice wavers slightly on the last word. “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.” 

He pauses. She wishes things were different. She wishes she could fight and scream and swear because it’s so much easier to just hate him. Hate him like she did all those months ago when she had no reason to live except for the life growing inside of her. She wants to argue and scream, tell him no, tell him that he doesn’t get to see the good in this because no one ever did in her, and how they all let her down. They all let her down over and over and over again, and fuck, it’s still hurting her even now after all these years. But she can’t. Because she loves him. And that's more terrifying than any of the things that have happened to her and the Mikaelson family. 

“...You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” 

Hayley is frozen. 

“What a beautiful thing we made. Thank you.”

“For what?” Her voice doesn’t even sound like hers. 

He smirks. “Giving me Hope.”

The baby in her arms only grows heavier at the weight of his words. She knows he means them both metaphorically and literally.

“Klaus… I…” She stammers, and isn’t sure what she can possibly say now. This was a side of him she’d never seen before. 

“So that’s that.” He takes a deep breath, using the heels of his hands to scrub at the moisture now re-collecting in his eyes. “I’ve never been very good at farewell gestures.”

The both of them stand close, sniffling in the humid air, and the stupidity of the situation finally dawns on her. Fear blooms in her stomach. He has to leave soon. 

“I… We have to go. Now. I’m sorry.” She whimpers. “I’m so sorry. You have to go.” 

Klaus nods, his bottom lip quivering. "Get her out of here. Keep her safe. Please." 

“I promise. I promise she’ll grow-” Hayley’s throat constricts and she’s forced to swallow the rest of the sentence. Grow up. What she wants to tell Klaus is that Hope will grow up. She wants Hope to reach adulthood like the two of them did, but that isn’t something she can promise. Hope would learn to survive. Not live. She’d be conditioned and trained to survive in the world they’d brought her into. The thought of the coming years without him to help made her stomach churn. 

“She’ll be happy.” She corrects, knowing this she could promise. “I swear she’ll be happy. She’ll know her father as the courageous man he was.”

Was? 

“Is.” Klaus says, fixing it for her. “I’ll come back. I’ll be back one day.” 

“She’ll be happy.” She repeats, and her arms shake. “She’ll know her father was a brave man. A man who believed in what was right and good and-” 

Klaus laughs suddenly, shoulders now shaking with both his tears and bewilderment at her comment. 

“I’ll stop you there and thank you not to lie to our daughter. I won’t have her building fantasies of my return on a white horse.” 

Hayley tries to laugh, but instead lets out a quiet sob, and Klaus bridges the gap between the two of them to pull mother and child into a tight hug. 

“Oh, little wolf.” He exclaims. “It's going to be alright, my love.” He murmurs reassurances over her cries, and they’re only growing louder now. “Take a deep breath for me, shhh. I don’t think you’ll miss me at all. Won’t even notice i’m gone, will she? No, she loves her mum far too much.” His voice cracks. “You’re such a good mum to her, know that? The both of you will be fine.” 

“I can’t do it without you.” She sobs, and the voice in her head is pleading with her to shut up. To not wake the baby. “Someone else can go. You don’t have to.”

“I do.” He says firmly. “It’s my fault. My sire line will not come back to destroy what I have built. What we have built.” He clarifies, and forces her chin up to meet his gaze. “They won’t hurt her.” 

And then he is gone. 

And Hayley is fairly certain that she’s never felt so alone in her entire life. 

And Hope wakes, her cries loud and jarring through the dark, and the mother reflexively reaches her thumb out to the child, coaxing it’s little mouth open to suckle at her finger. 

“I’ve got you.” She soothes, sniffling as she bounces the infant blurring before her. “Daddy’s gotta go fix some things, and we might see him again soon.” 

But even if they don’t, it'll be alright. She has Hope. 

She has two kinds of hope.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments/suggestions are much appreciated. 
> 
> Thanks again, 
> 
> \- J


End file.
